Steven Osborne

“You could have heard a pin drop. Steven Osborne’s power over
the hall was absolute…the atmosphere was spellbound.”
Daily Telegraph

From exhilarating concertos to delicate chamber works, from mainstream Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms to the rarefied worlds of Messiaen, Tippett and Britten, Steven Osborne is at home with the widest range of styles and his carefully crafted recital programmes and idiomatic approach to contrasting works are both publicly and critically acclaimed.

Concerto performances take Steven Osborne to orchestras all over the world including recent visits to the NHK Symphony, Berlin Symphony, Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Munich Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest, Australian Chamber Orchestra, and the NDR Sinfonieorchester Hannover. With these orchestras he has enjoyed collaborations with conductors including Christoph von Dohnanyi, Alan Gilbert, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Charles Mackerras, Ludovik Morlot, Leif Segerstam, Andrew Litton, Ingo Metzmacher and Jukka-Pekka Saraste.

In the UK he works regularly with the major orchestras, especially with the Philharmonia, City of Birmingham Symphony and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestras.  His concerts are frequently broadcast by the BBC and he performs every year at the Wigmore Hall. He has made seven appearances at the Proms, most recently in July 2007, receiving unanimous praise from critics for his performance of the Britten Piano Concerto which he subsequently recorded for Hyperion. 

Steven Osborne is a renowned recitalist and has performed in many of the world’s prestigious venues including the Konzerthaus Vienna, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Philharmonie Berlin, Musikhalle Hamburg, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Kennedy Center Washington and Carnegie Hall. 

Amongst the highlights of 2009/10, Osborne will perform with the Dallas Symphony/Deneve, Finnish Radio Symphony/Lintu, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo/Kreizberg, Orchestre de Lausanne, Danish Radio Symphony/Morlot, CBSO/Vedernikov and a European tour of Schubert duets with Paul Lewis including dates at Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw and Rotterdam. Last season Osborne breathed new life into well-known classics with his performances and recording of the Russian greats, including Shostakovich Piano Concerto No 1 with the NHK Symphony, Rachmoninov Piano Concerto No 2 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Stravinsky Concerto for Piano and Winds with the London Philharmonic Orchestra/Jurowski at the Aldeburgh Festival.

Steven Osborne has won numerous awards for his recordings on Hyperion. His CD of Britten’s works for Piano and Orchestra won a 2009 Gramophone Award. Also in 2009 his CD of Rachmaninov’s 24 Preludes was short-listed for a Gramophone Award and won a Schallplattenpreis whilst being chosen as “Editor’s Choice” in Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, International Record Review, Musical Opinion and The Daily Telegraph: “This is outstanding Rachmaninov playing of acute perception, discretion and poetic sensibility, limpid, powerful and luminous in equal measure.” BBC Music Magazine May 09.. His double CD of works by Tippett was nominated for a BBC Music Magazine Award and his CD of Messiaen’s complete Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jésus was also nominated for both a Gramophone Award and a Schallplattenpreis in Germany. Other recordings include Debussy’s complete Preludes, solo works by Alkan, Liszt Harmonies poetiques et religieuses, and solo works by Kapustin which was also nominated for a Schallplattenpreis. Osborne’s next scheduled release will be a CD of Beethoven Piano Sonatas.

Born in Scotland in 1971, Steven Osborne studied with Richard Beauchamp at St. Mary's Music School in Edinburgh and Renna Kellaway at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.  He won first prize at the Naumburg International Piano Competition (New York) and the Clara Haskil Competition.